Originally Posted by
Flying for Fun
Out of curiosity, do you recall how much the DEN-SEA fare was a decade & a half ago? I know the cost of a basket of goods costs significantly more today than it did back then. It would be interesting to extrapolate the "real cost" of those meals into today's dollar to see if it is commensurate in relation to today's fares. I suspect the 2004/5 meal costs were a lower percentage of average fare at the time.
James
The fare varied, and like today there were frequent sales. If I recall the base one way fare without discount was about $250.00 but there was always a lower fare with a bit of advance planning - which I always had enough time for. I also remember doing some mileage runs between Denver and Philadelphia where the base fare for roundtrip was $55.00. With taxes all in, my records show I paid $121.10. The reason it's relevant here is that it was an AA ticketed fare that routed DEN-SEA-ORD-PHL using Alaska codeshare flights DEN-SEA-ORD. I bought six of those tickets and always departed Denver on the 700am departure. I did a lot of mileage runs back then and most of the AA fares out of Denver allowed for a routing via SEA using the Alaska codeshare.
As for the food back then, I thought it was basic but okay. I prefer a hot meal (Back home I'm a cereal and yogurt guy, so it's nice to treat myself when I fly First Class) onboard airplanes, so I always opt for the egg dishes. As I recall however, there wasn't a choice on those short DEN-SEA flights.